The Very Real and Complicated Dream of Gwen Wright
by It's-A-Passion
Summary: Gwen Wright was going to applaud her imagination when she dreamt herself right into Middle Earth, with an elf-ed name and everything. But then she finds she can't wake up and is stuck in a world she knows nothing about, in the body of a woman she doesn't know, falling in love with a reckless dwarf whose soul calls to her in a very real way. KiliOC.
1. Where the Hell Am I?

**A/N: Rewritten as of 23/01/14**

The Very Real and Complicated Dream of Gwen Wright

1. Where the Hell Am I?

_Where the hell am I?_

My mind took a minute to clear, chasing away the lingering sleep, and I uncomprehendingly stared at the unfamiliar room. I blinked, and for a second, I just stared at the ceiling, frowning.

_Where_ were my stars? The little glow-in-the-dark adhesive ones that I'd stuck onto the ceiling when I first moved in? It had taken me _forever_ to get them in the right shapes for my favourite constellations, and now someone had gone and _taken them down_.

Where was _Cassiopeia_? Andromeda? Pegasus? Ursa Minor? They were all gone.

_Dick move_.

Then the last of my sleepy haze cleared and I shot up in the unfamiliar bed, realizing that it actually wasn't my room, and causing a burst of pain to slice through my side. A panicked, strangled scream tore up my throat, and I slapped a hand across my mouth to muffle it. I had no idea where I was.

Not a clue. Nada. Zip. This sure as hell was not _my_ room. _My room had cool stars_.

Maybe I'd gotten blindingly wasted and threw my virginity at someone. Because _that_ was a possibility. Like I had the time. If I wasn't studying, I was working. And if I wasn't working, I was studying. It was a vicious cycle I couldn't break out of.

My fingers, dainty and graceful, scrambled at the white blankets covering me, pushing them off – _wait_. Hold up. Dainty, graceful fingers? _Dainty_ and _graceful_ were the last words anyone would use to describe me, let alone my fingers. And then I looked down at myself, searching out what had caused the pain in my side. I froze.

_Don't scream_.

I was naked. Stark, bare-as-the-day-I-was-born, _naked_.

Fear crept up my back with cold fingers. Terror threatened to make me choke on air, my intestines being pulled and twisted from the flooring panic, making me want to throw up the contents of my stomach all over the pristine, white sheets. Jesus Christ, someone had _undressed_ me. Taken my clothes off. Seen me in all my glory.

Around my waist – my tiny waist; the kind of waist every girl envied, and was most certainly not mine (due to an unshakable and perpetual hungering for chocolate) – was a bandage strip, wrapped tight. Red stained the right side of it.

I had to forcefully shove back another scream, squeezing my eyes shut and curling my hands into fists. Okay. Okay. I'm bleeding. _I'm bleeding_. From what? God, what happened? Where was I?

_What the hell is going on?! _I wanted to scream it.

_Just calm down_.

Calm down? Calm down?

It was going to be a little hard to calm down at the moment. Apparently, I just woke up in a stranger's house, completely naked. I'd never done that before – I'd never gotten drunk enough to do that before. Okay. Maybe that was what it was; I'd gotten drunk and crashed at a friend's house. Oh, please, let me have been drunk and let this be a friend's house!

Oh, God, what if I'd been kidnapped? I _could've_ been kidnapped, maybe by a serial killer. Maybe, I was in a serial killer's house and any second, my murderer was going to come into the room and cut me up into tiny little pieces, never to be put back together again. Like Humpty Dumpty. Only I was no egg and this was no nursery rhyme bullshit.

_Calm down!_

I was trying, I really, really was. Slowly, I reopened my eyes, taking deep, long breaths in a bid to stop my heart smacking into my ribcage in a painful attempt to rip free and leap out. Okay. I needed to get the hell out of here. Find a phone. _Good idea, Gwen._

Jesus, _had_ I been kidnapped?

I tried remembering, going back. What had I been doing last? What could I remember? I frowned, concentrating with all my might. I'd…I'd been in my flat, with my best friend. I had my first night off from work in _months_, and I'd already finished the study I'd had to do, so I was taking the opportunity to just _relax_. I was ready to just sit on the couch and stare at the wall. Do nothing. God, it had been so long since I'd done _nothing_. But Ally had had other ideas. And…and she'd…_forced_ me to sit through an _unlawfully_ long movie. And then…And then…

_Blank_.

That's all I got. I couldn't remember. Oh, God, oh Jesus, Joseph and Mary. Was I really kidnapped? Chloroformed? Drugged?

_Roofied_?

Oh, God. Was this a darker, more twisted and messed up version of _The Hangover_? Because that had been a fun movie, and right now, I was not having fun. I was trying to keep myself from freaking out and screaming at the top of my lungs until I ran out of breath. Dread and panic were circling in my gut, in equal parts, just waiting for me to give up my charade of being calm.

Okay.

Step one: Find a phone. Step two: Call the police. Step three: Wait to be rescued.

Okay. I could do that. I could remain calm and call for help. As long as I didn't think about the fact that I could be locked up in a psychos house while he waited for me to wake up. I watched too much _Criminal Minds_ to believe that if this was a stranger's house, and indeed, not a friend's, then it was highly unlikely that the owner was going to just let me _walk out_.

I had to get myself out of here. I had to get to a phone and call the police. I looked around the room. The very, very large room. For a minute, it threw me off, the way it seemed like such a…_nice_ room. A bed, with a frame of what looked like…vines and thin twisted branches woven into an intricate design was pressed against a wall of white stone, and covering that stone was what looked like ivy or something, growing up the stone and sprouting pretty flowers sporadically – it must have been growing for years, for it to cover that much wall. Tall candle holders stood around the room, each one holding about nine candles each, and along one wall were three bay windows, though there wasn't any glass – just pointed, arch-shaped holes. A vanity dresser stood across the room next to a wooden wardrobe. And Jesus, there was so much light pouring in, I wondered how anyone could possibly sleep with it all.

If this was a dungeon, it really needed to work on its scare and misery factor.

I went to push myself off the bed and onto shaky legs, but my side gave another shout of protest. I looked down at myself again and…were…_were my breasticles bigger?_ Holy hell. They were. I grabbed my chest and my eyes widened – they felt real.

Okay. I had bigger boobs. I had a tiny waist. I had dainty, graceful fingers. This was getting weird. Or, _weirder_.

I ignored the pain in my side and fell out of the bed. The ground was hard and cool under my bare skin, and I lifted myself up, using the bed as leverage, and stumbling my way to the mirror at the vanity dresser. My blood was pumping fast, the sound rushing in my ears.

An unfamiliar girl peered back. I frowned, my mind a blank. Like a blackboard wiped clean. Nothing. I had nothing. I didn't know the girl looking back at me. It wasn't me. I was dark haired, brown-eyed and tall. Pretty, maybe. Athletic.

But the girl in the mirror was fair and beautiful. She had hair like silver threads, so fine they seemed to float; a river of silver cascading down her back, _way_ past her tiny waist. The sides were pinned back, and I saw tiny plaits everywhere. But sitting on her hair was an intricate head-chain of silver, like a crown, the sides coming to twist around each other at the front to form a woven diamond shape that dropped part the way down her forehead. Her wide eyes were grey, her eyebrows a dark brown, almost black, thin and elegantly arched, and her body was slender, though she clearly had the curves of a woman (clearly - her boobs were bigger than mine, and she was _tiny_.). And she was short – surprisingly short.

I leaned closer to the mirror, and the girl's eyes were wide in confused terror as she leaned forward as well. I blinked and the girl blinked. My head tilted to the side, and so did the girl's. I jumped back, crouching slightly, and the silver-girl did the same. _Ohmigod_.

Oh. My. God. No. Freaking. Way.

This wasn't possible. It wasn't. There was – it just couldn't – and I couldn't – _this couldn't be real_. This couldn't be real. This shit couldn't be happening. I came closer to the mirror again, my hand reaching out to touch it. The girl did the same, but my fingers only met the cool mirror. Jesus Christ. God Almighty.

The silver-girl was _me_.

My heart was beating so fast – and then I spotted it. I turned my head to the side slightly, squinting at my reflection. Holy crap, _my_ reflection. My ears! My _ears_, they were…pointed. Freaking pointed! I pulled at them, but they weren't fake. They were very real. No. No, no, no. Just…_no_. What the freaking hell was going on? Where was I? What happened to my ears? What happened to my body?

And then I really did scream.

It wasn't physically possible for one person to _morph_ into another overnight. Okay, I had officially entered crazy town – population? Me.

In the middle of my freak out, the door flew open and a familiar looking, silver-haired man swept in like a storm. I turned to look at him, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open. Shit was getting weird, man. Maybe I was on some sort of hallucinogen. His keen eyes swept the room, a strung bow and arrow in his hands, just as more men piled into the room, swords and bows and arrows at the ready.

Holy crap, they were all _tall_. Tall and slender, and looking like they carried around a lot of power from their slender bodies. They moved with a light-footed agility that was most definitely superhuman.

"What is it?" The familiar silver-haired man asked urgently, trying and failing to see some sort of threat. His eyes landed on me quickly, telling me to answer him quickly. "What caused your alarm?"

Holy mother of God.

My mouth flapped uselessly, and I tried not to scream again – I knew him! He was that man from the movie! The crazy-long movie, he was that elf! What was his name? It was funny sounding, something to do with legs? Was this even real? Was _he_ real? What the hell was he doing in my serial killer's house?

He couldn't be real. No way. It wasn't possible. That solved it; I was on some sort of hallucinogen, and it was making me see characters from a movie I barely paid attention to. But…but I should make sure.

Tentatively, and on uncertain steps, I walked up to the good looking elf, semi-hesitant and curious, and wary of the point of his arrow. He quickly lowered it when I got close, watching me curiously. I reached up (quite a long way too, for he was much taller than me in this body), grabbed his cheek and pulled. But my fingers pulled at flesh rather than a rubbery mask, and the motion distorted his handsome face. He jerked his face back from my grip, his black eyebrows furrowing as he looked down at me like I'd gone crazy.

Oh, shit.

"Wow, you feel _real_," I breathed in awe and slight fear, as I went to grab his cheek again, to double check that he did, in fact, feel real. If I was hallucinating, would I even be aware that I was hallucinating? Wasn't that the whole point of hallucinations, that you thought it was all real? Shit, maybe this _was_ real. He jerked his head back again, still frowning. Then I remembered his name. "You're Legless the elf!"

Oh.

_Oh_.

Oh, holy mother of God, I was about ready to have a heart attack, and this whole time…it was just a _dream_. Duh. _Of course_, it was a dream! I didn't know why it took me so long to figure it out! A relieved grin broke across my face; _I was dreaming_! Oh, God, that was such a relief – and this whole time, I'd thought I'd been kidnapped! I wanted to laugh at the giddy feeling bubbling up in my chest, at how ridiculous this all was. I was dreaming. Oh, thank God!

I never knew how sweet full-blown relief could feel. I blinked my suddenly moist eyes, sighing deeply. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, halleluiah!

Rather than mirroring the relief I felt, his eyes became worried, and he placed a hand to my forehead, "You do not feel feverish."

Ha ha. He's an elf. I had to suppress a giggle. I was an _elf_. We had the pointed ears and everything. I shook my head, shaking out from under his hand, and grinning at him ecstatically, "I feel great! You have no idea just how great I feel!"

I wanted to dance, I felt so great. Jump for joy. Wiggle around. A rush of energy to move in celebration swamped me suddenly, and I did a little jig on the spot, my face hurting from my wide smile. I laughed. Really, really laughed, and the sound was musical.

I was just so happy that this was a dream, albeit, a weird dream, rather than being locked up in some serial killer's house. It was a weight off my shoulders. And really, what did I expect after being forced into watching those movies? Ally had forced me to stay awake even into the wee hours of the morning to finish the last movie, and now I was dreaming it too. Big surprise.

It wasn't even as though the movies were bad; it was just that I was tired and had slept through the first half of the movie so I had no idea what was happening. My exhausted brain had found it difficult to catch on, and after a while, I'd just given up. From then on, I'd drifted in and out, catching glimpses that meant very little by themselves.

He grabbed my arms and pinned them to my sides, his eyes alarmed.

"Leave us!" Legless commanded the men – or, er, elves – behind him, who were still standing there, at a loss. "Can you not see my sister is in a state of undress and requires privacy? All is well, now leave." The tall, slender elves exited the room quickly at his command.

Oh, damn. The beautiful elf was my _brother_. That was a darn shame.

Then again, I probably should have expected it; our features were strikingly similar; our hair, our eyebrows, our eyes. Only, he was more masculine, and quite tall. Then I recalled his words, and a blush heated my cheeks as I quickly covered my new, bigger, boobs. Legless' eyes narrowed, roving over my face, "You should be resting still."

_No_, I should be _dancing_.

But as the panic died down, and my heart slowed, I felt the pain. My side ached sharply, burning. A wave of dizziness hit me, and I swayed slightly. Every tiny movement disturbed it, sending another jolt of pain through me. I didn't object as he guided me back to the bed and pulled the sheets over my naked form. My side continued to burn painfully at the movement. Well, this sucked.

A flutter of brown and white wings caught my attention, and I glanced at the window where a bird was perched on the ledge. It hopped slightly, and then flew into the room, landing on the twisting bed frame at the end of my bed. It tilted its head to the side and looked at me. I looked back, my eyes slightly wide and perturbed.

When it continued to gaze at me reproachfully – yeah, _reproachfully_ – I frowned. "Legless, why is that bird staring at me?"

He was beginning to look extremely worried for my sanity. Rude. I was not crazy; he was a freaking elf, and he thought I was the loony one? This was _my_ dream. "I believe you call him Pecky. You think him to be _your_ bird."

Ha. Totally sounds like something I'd name a bird. If I wasn't terrified of them. "Right. Of course, how silly of me. Thanks Legless."

Moving on. It was kind of annoying that I didn't even know this stuff – he was my bird apparently, and this was my dream, ergo, I dreamed the bird up. So why didn't I know that he was my bird? And why the hell would I dream of a _bird_?

"Why do you call me that?"

I looked at him like he was the crazy one, "Because it's your name." The duh was implied. I mean, come on dude. Seriously. Keep up. This dream was faulty.

"No," he said slowly. "It's Legolas."

"Leg…oh…lass?" I said slowly, sounding his name out. Then I frowned again. "Are you sure? Because that's a weird, trippy-ass name."

I mentally cringed. I needed to tone done the crazy. Then again, this was _my_ dream. I could do whatever the hell I wanted. "Are you sure you are not feeling ill, Eregwen?"

Eregwen? As in, Ere-_gwen_? Wow. Okay. I elf-ed up my name. Cool. Props to my imagination. I grinned up at him happily, "Positive. Though, my side hurts." _And this dream kind of sucks. I mean, where the hell is Hugh Jackman? If this was a good dream, he would be here by now and his shirt would be off._ "What happened to it?"

"You don't remember?" He asked. From the way he was radiating concern, I figured this Eregwen woman was close to her brother, _Legolas_. I shook my head a negative. "We were pushing back a small group of Orcs, and you were hit with one of their arrows. It pierced your side." Then he hung his head a little, just enough to let me know that he felt guilty. "It was my fault, for not watching you closer. We did not know you were mortally wounded until much later when you collapsed. You died, Eregwen. But then you were breathing again, and it was a miracle."

Holy shit. I _died_.

Then I blinked – well, technically, _I_ didn't die, so it was all good. Otherwise that would've been quite the doozy to come back from. I glanced at him, at the flickers of anguish and guilt sliding across his face, at the way he was brooding, staring moodily out the window arches. Slowly, I lifted my hand to cup his cheek. I wasn't sure why; it just felt right. This body remembered it's acts, even if I did not. My voice was sweet, and suddenly as formal and elf-ish as his was. "It was not your fault, and you mustn't blame yourself."

Well, that just felt wrong. That's not how I would've said it. More like,_ dude, chill. We're cool. No hard feelings. _I guess this body also remembered how to talk like an elf rather than a weird ass girl from another world.

He didn't look convinced, though.

So I tacked on some more to persuade him I was cool with it. I was pretty sure this Eregwen would be cool too. "Come on, you went all Superman-Batman on me and saved my ass. You're a good brother, I've forgiven you."

He stilled, and the alarm and worry was back again.

I snorted a laugh, amused with myself. Okay, maybe I couldn't resist messing with his head a little. It was just too tempting, and I mean, it was my dream. What was the worst that could happen?

"Rest. I will check on you again soon."

Then my fictional, adorable brother left. I wanted to get back out of bed, find some clothes and do a little exploring. So far, my imagination was doing a stand-up job of keeping this shit together and real, and I was curious about the extent of its creative ability to impersonate a fictional world. But a sleepy haze crept over me, and suddenly it was a battle to keep my eyelids open. I was exhausted from healing from a fight I didn't remember. It kind of seemed unfair I would have to suffer from a wound I didn't actually get myself, and I mentally deducted points from my imagination scale.

I yawned, and relaxed against the soft mattress of my bed. The bird hopped, before turning its head the other way to look at me. I stared back at it, and we found ourselves in a staring contest. I broke first, glancing away and trying to ignore the fact that there was a bird so close to me. Then my eyes closed and I also lost the fight to stay awake.

It was a shame I'd be waking up in my own bed, to Ally's snoring. I probably wouldn't be coming back here ever again, and I was almost disappointed I didn't get to see more. But then I remembered how much I missed my IPhone, and I was suddenly much happier to be getting home.

I needed to check my emails.

**So…Interested?**

**Wanna read more, or are we over the whole OC-finds –herself-in-Middle-Earth thing going around? Let me know. I mean, are you really going to object to another KiliOC story?**


	2. Call Me Cupid

**Aw, **_**guys**_**. You're too sweet. Thanks so much for reviewing and favouriting and following this story! It super-duper sweet. **

**I usually do review-replies at the end, but I thought, **_**What the hell? Let's go a little wild and do them at the beginning!**_

**Cardinala: **My thoughts precisely! There will never be enough KiliOC stories! I'm glad you hold that opinion too. I think we're going to get along just great :D Thanks so much for taking the time to be my first reviewer! And Thranduil will come into it next chapter! I hope you like it!

**RascalKat: **Haha, that's funny because I _live_ for OC stories. It's very literally, all I read. I'm so glad you think it's good enough to give a shot! Thank you! I really hope you continue to like it! Thanks so much for reviewing!

**1emotionalunicorn: **Thank you! I'm stoked you like it! Thank you! I'm glad you like Gwen too, because she's kind of quirky and so much fun to write, that I want to keep writing her! It makes me happy to know you're interested to read more of her then, and I really hope you continue to like it!

**OrisounAsh: **I _did_ do a thing! A _Hobbit_ thing! I didn't want you to feel like you had to read it, just because I'm reading yours! Especially if it's not the type of story you like to read! Because then it would turn into this big awkward thing where I'd be _like so what did you think of the chapter?_ And you'd be like _yeah, it was good_ *cough I didn't read it cough*. I know, there can never be enough KiliOC stories. Yes, I'm beginning to notice that! I've read a couple ones that seem like they're going to be the same, but end up being quite different, so it's great! Thank you, I'm glad you like Gwen, because she is fun to write, and she's a little quirky. I can't wait to write them together! And I'm still waiting for you to post your next chapter! Thank you – I actually felt the same way after I posted the chapter, that it felt a little rushed, so I went back and tried to fix it up so it wasn't as much. Thanks so much for reviewing for me! Super nice of you :D

**Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967: **Thank you! I'm so pleased you loved it! I hope you liked this chapter too! Thanks so much for leaving a review for me! :D

**And, on to the story…**

The Very Real and Complicated Dream of Gwen Wright

2. Call Me Cupid

I groaned, a content sigh escaping my lips as I stretched back sleepily. My side was a dull ache, and I laughed a little, calling out, "Ally, you awake?"

I wasn't quite ready to open my eyes and get up yet, relishing the last bits of sleep. She didn't answer, and I figured seeing as she'd _made_ me stay up late, she could just wake the hell up now. "You'll never guess what I dreamed about. The Lord of the Rings. Seriously, I blame you. I thought I'd been kidnapped, I nearly went into cardiac arrest. And guess who was there. That guy you like, whats'iz name. Legolas. Yeah. I called him Legless. Ally? Are you listening to me?"

"Are you talking to me, Lady Eregwen?"

_Lady? _Yeah, okay. I laughed, "Yeah, that's right, my name was…"

Wait. Hold. Up.

_Lady Eregwen?_ How did she know what my dream-name had been? I didn't tell her. Something sharp pricked my cheek, and I reacted, my hand flying up and colliding with something small and yielding, practically throwing it across the room. Apprehension crept up my chest, and I suddenly didn't want to open my eyes. A bird chirped from above my head, calling out a song that had a sweet, happy tune.

Why was there a bird in my room?

Uneasily, I blinked my eyes open, adjusting to the amount of light in the room, and I spotted a brown and white bird hovering above my head, flapping it's wings. It stared at me and I stared back. We seemed to do that.

"Pecky…?" I asked, confused. I glanced around the room to find the same white walls covered in ivy and flowers, and too much sunlight. "What the…?"

I jerked upright, my side laced with pain. No. No way.

_Oh, hell no._

What the hell? Why was I _still_ here? I was supposed to be home! I was supposed to be checking my emails on my IPhone. My beautiful, innocent phone. I _needed_ it like an addict needed crack. My fingers twitched and I felt the effects of withdrawal. How was this shit still possible?

A couple steps inside the room from the door was a beautiful woman, with long, dark brown hair pinned back with braids, and a tray in her hands. "Lady Eregwen?"

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, eyes wide, anxiety leaking out. I did not recognize her from the movies.

She frowned slightly, before gracefully gliding into the room, "I am Idhrendes. Your healer." She placed the tray down beside my bed and pressed her hand against my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

Pissed off. I should be waking up in my own bed, not this god-forsaken movie-dream.

"I…fine. Thanks for that. You know, bringing me back to life. I assume that was you?"

"Indeed." She smiled, and placed the tray on my lap, and at the sight of the food, my stomach gave a loud growl. I was _starving_. I was so hungry, I scoffed the nuts and berries and fruits down, not even bothering to check them out first. Idhrendes laughed, taking the tray away when I was finished. "I will aid you in dressing, then I will inform Legolas."

"Oh, no," I said quickly. "No need for that."

I did not want to get mixed up in this world and their lives any more than I had to. I wanted to go home. Now. Right now.

_Wake up, _I commanded myself. _Wake the hell up. Please._

"Nonsense. He will want to know you are awake. And your father will want to see you also."

Whoa. Way to drop a loaded bomb on me, lady. _My father?_ I jerked back on the bed, my back hitting the wooden bedframe, eyes wide. Okay. Now was the time to go, to get out of here. A _brother_ had been bad enough; I did not want to stick around to meet my _father_. Especially when my real father was back home. It was just going to be weird calling another man _dad_. Even in a dream.

I didn't want to get mixed up in their lives. I wanted to wake up and go home.

Okay, new plan. Let this woman help me dress, and when she leaves to get Legolas, I'll sneak out, and get the hell outta dodge. I could wait it out somewhere else until I woke up, maybe explore a little. But I did _not_ want to talk with people who knew Eregwen well. It was not going to be fun trying to stumble my way through, trying to pretend I was her and that I understood everything they were going on about. I didn't want to have to pretend in my own dream.

I pushed myself to the edge of the bed slowly, groaning at the pain in my side. Last time, the sheer panic had overruled and blocked out the pain. Now, comparably less panicked, I felt every single bit. Yay for me.

This dream sucked. I had to actually feel pain in it. _My own dream!_

On a long release of air, I stood up, swaying slightly, and Idhrendes' arms were there to steady me. My movements disturbed my wound, and it felt like the flesh of it was trying to rip apart. I gritted my teeth, pushing through. My limbs ached, and I took a tentative step away from the support of the bed. The sheets slipped away, and I noticed that the dressing around my waist had been changed; there was no blood on this one. So someone else had seen me naked.

Fantastic.

Well, technically, it wasn't _me_ they saw naked. But still. As long as I was in this body, in my own dream, then I supposed, _technically_, it was _me_. It just didn't look or sound or move like me. And the embarrassment still felt real, as a pink flush coloured my cheeks. Everything felt really, really _real_. This was just getting way too complicated for a dream. And yet, it still seemed to be logically sequenced. If I didn't know this was a dream…

…I could almost believe it was real.

I mean, where were the illogical situations, and sudden appearances? I had a dream once where I was eating lunch with Johnny Depp and my eleventh grade math class. Then suddenly, we were in Paris, asking someone if we could take our plates up the Eiffel tower. I had no idea why we'd want to take plates up there, or where we even got the plates from in the first place. And there was something about bread. Now _that_ did not make sense.

But so far, this dream was making a lot of sense, if you ignored the whole mythical beings and another world thing. I was still in Middle Earth; I hadn't suddenly found myself wandering about in the Louvre.

I shook my head to clear it, glancing at my healer. There was something about Idhrendes that made me less awkward and embarrassed about the fact that I was nude in front of her. Something familiar and almost…maternal. Even though she didn't look a day over twenty six, she had this air about her that was nurturing. Maybe she had kids.

She glided me easily over to the wardrobe and pulled it open.

"Will this do?" She asked, holding out a long dress of pale blue and brown material and I shrugged. I didn't know the dress code around here.

She helped me slip the dress on, her deft and precise fingers pulling the fastenings out of my hands when I fumbled over them. Then I actually looked at the dress. Fancy. Whoever this Eregwen chick was, she had it good. It almost made up for the fact that I hadn't woken up yet.

The dress was long, brushing against the floor, and seemed to be made up of two layers; the top was the pale blue and the bottom was an earthy brown. The top blue layer had a wide neckline, from the edges of my shoulders in a straight line across, and the sleeves flared out from just above my elbows and came down as far as the blue part of the dress did – mid calf. There were slits up the sides, and intricate silver embroidery ran along the edges; the neckline, the hem, one either side of the fastenings at the front and the slits at the sides. Just visible above the neckline was the brown layer, which was completely covered in the twisting silver embroidery, and it flowed down, out under the blue layers and to the floor, and a brown belt cinched it in at my waist.

It was a gorgeous, medieval dress, and it made me wonder who Eregwen _was_. Idhrendes nodded, before turning to leave, "I will inform Legolas."

"Okey dokey."

That seemed to throw her a little, but she recovered quickly and left. I was going to count to ten, but found I couldn't wait that long. I hurried to the door, ignoring the pain in my side, throwing it open and pausing.

I had no idea which way to go. The hallway outside my door looked exactly the same each way. The other side was a balustrade carved from stone, and there were small pillars, arching up in a similar way to my windows.

My mouth dropped a little and I slowly walked up to it, poking my head and leaning on the railing. It looked like…it looked like this place was built around the trees; tall, towering trees that were so high up, I couldn't see the top. Patches of direct sunlight managed to filter through the gaps, lighting it up, but there was also diluted light, spread out so that everything was clearly visible.

And Jesus, everything was so _green_ and _brown_. I couldn't even really see the bottom, it got too dark, but there were curved pathway-bridges cut from trees, arching from one side to the other, crossing over each other, leading up to stairs, and then to doorways. And there were no railings anywhere but where I was right now – just a long drop down. How did people not fall off? Upon closer inspection, I realized that what I thought was white stone, was actually bark. Really smooth, really polished down, bark from the middle of a tree, brought here and used to build a room in another tree.

Holy shit, I was living in a tree. This place was amazing. Looking out at it, all I could see was nature. Life. There was almost a sort of thrum of it, running under every surface I touched. It was beautiful.

I stood, mesmerized and slightly overwhelmed, for a moment, before realizing I was wasting time. I nearly didn't want to drag my eyes away from it.

Okay. How did I get myself out of here?

"Lady Eregwen?" A voice called from down below, and I twisted my head to the side to find the source, bending down so my hair slipped over my shoulder and into my face. I spluttered when I got a mouthful of it, shaking my head to get rid of it while holding on for dear life to the railing. I held no immediate desire to find out for myself what was at the bottom. Or how far it was to the bottom.

_Lady? _Again with the 'Lady' thing. Seriously, _who_ was Eregwen?

And that was exactly what I meant, why I wanted to get out; I didn't want to spend any more time trying to answer questions I should already know the answer to! This was _my_ dream! Everything was supposed to make sense in a dream, but I was so befuddled. It was frustrating as heck.

A tall woman, with long auburn hair, was looking up at me quizzically as she paused in the middle of a path, standing there easily with no indication she feared she'd fall over the side. She too, unsurprisingly, was tall and slender, her hair pinned back in braids. I was noticing a theme here. Then I noticed that a quiver of arrows was strapped to her back and a bow was hanging from her fingers. Wow, cool. Where could I get one of those?

"Uh…" I started. What did one talk about to elves? "Hi?"

_Nailed it._

She smiled slightly.

"It is a pleasant sight, to see you up on your feet. And _clothed_," she grinned pointedly and I blushed. So, word had gotten around then. How embarrassing. I liked her though. She had a sense of humour, at least. Maybe I could get her to tell me how to get out of here. "Are you feeling well?"

I nodded, the movement making me dizzy and reminding me that I was half hanging out over a long and dark drop. And the railing was pressing painfully on my wound. "Probably."

How eloquent. Man, did I have a way with words. I went to pull back and find my way out without drawing any more attention. But then she called out to me again, "Gwen?"

I froze. _Gwen_. That was my name. She called me Gwen?

I looked back out over the railing, but she was gone. Wasting no more time puzzling over the complexities of this god forsaken dream, I turned, heading down towards one end of the hallway. When I saw a flash of blonde coming in my direction up the stairs though, I turned and quickly hurried down the other way.

That was when I noticed how _graceful_ I was. Holy crap. I nearly ruined it when I stumbled slightly in shock, but I recovered, continuing on, both trying to move quickly and to not be awed by how I moved quickly. I glided like a freaking river; in fluid, continuous movements, with light, soft steps and an agility that was superhuman. Wow. Very different to my old, somewhat clumsy walk. I would bet that if Eregwen were to dance, she would look graceful and beautiful doing it; there would be no awkward, retarded looking steps that had me accidentally bumping into people. Just elegant, nimble swaying as she moved about.

That was just unfair.

"Eregwen?" Legolas' voice called out to me from behind, sounding a decent distance away that I could keep walking and pretend I didn't hear him. Oh hell no. I was not going to suffer through another conversation with him. No. Just no. He seemed nice enough, but there was a limit to my patience, and I had a feeling I would exceed that limit if I was forced to try to talk to him like normal Eregwen would.

It was kind of funny how I was trying to run from my dream people. Huh. Maybe this was closer to the nightmare end of the dreaming spectrum.

Okay, new plan. I had to make myself wake up rather than waiting for it to happen, before my fictional brother cornered me. I needed to get away. I needed to find me a wizard to magic my ass back into reality. I needed…to die? When you died in a dream, didn't you wake up? Maybe I should try that.

Great. This dream had made me suicidal.

But, if getting shot with an arrow hurt this much, I didn't really want to have to go through something else painful just to wake up.

"Eregwen?" A little louder this time.

People had to stop calling me that. It was annoying, responding to a name that wasn't mine.

I was almost to the end of the hallway, I was almost out of his sight, which would give me time to figure a way out. But the next second, his hand was on my shoulder and I nearly jumped out of my new skin in fright. I stumbled back, squeaking embarrassingly as my back came into contact with the balustrade. Holy crap, if that wasn't there, I would be falling to the bottom. I shoved his hand away, annoyed that he could have caused my dream-death. Not cool, _bro_. "Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack? Seriously, dude, make a little noise next time."

The auburn haired woman was with him too, as well as Idhrendes. Why did I feel like I was being ganged up on? They were so much taller than me, that when they stood close, it was easy to feel claustrophobic. Overwhelmed.

Yeah. That concerned and worried look was getting old too. "Eregwen, sh - ,"

I cut my beautiful, fictional brother off. "Gwen. Call me _Gwen_."

If everyone would just call me by my actual name, that'd be great. He nodded, frowning. "Gwen…are you well enough to be walking?"

"I'm just _fine_," I said through clenched teeth, trying not to snap at him. _Warning: patience limit nearing. In an orderly fashion, please walk to your nearest exit._ "Everyone needs to stop asking me that." He wasn't swayed by my answer and I sighed. "Tell him, Idhrendes."

She better be on my side. I'd had enough of sleeping, thank you very much.

"It is true," she bowed her head slightly. "I checked her wound this morning, before she woke, and it is healing nicely. I see no reason she should not be on her feet, as long as she is careful not to strain herself."

"If I promise to, can I go?" I asked innocently, turning away before he could answer. But the auburn haired elf stepped up beside me, effectively blocking my exit route. Her eyes locked on mine, frowning slightly, and they seemed to ask a question. Was this elf woman and Eregwen friends? She had called me Gwen before, so perhaps they were.

"Eregwen…" He said, catching hold of my arm again and gently turning me around to look at him. Seriously? I thought we went through this already. Gwen. My name is Gwen. "I am happy you are well again. Father wishes to see you. He is waiting for you where he usually is."

"Sure thing, Orlando, and that's," I lifted up my hands to point in one direction, squinting at him to assess his face. He frowned, so I quickly pointed in the other direction, "this way?"

"You don't remember?"

"Of course I remember, Legless," I reproached, folding my arms across my chest defensively, as if he'd insulted me.

"Legolas," he reminded, and I blushed slightly.

"Right."

I knew that.

"I will escort her," the auburn haired woman offered. _Damn, girl, why you gotta ruin my plans? _How was I supposed to run away when I've got an elf tailing me? "To make sure she…" _Doesn't get lost?_ "Doesn't strain herself."

Nice cover. We were all thinking it, though.

Legolas nodded gratefully, "Thank you, Tauriel."

She smiled at him, holding his eyes for a moment, before looking away and guiding me past them. Wait up, was that…? Oh man, this dream was getting fun again! Did I dream up some chemistry between my beautiful brother and this elf woman, Tauriel?

I narrowed my eyes at them, watching. Maybe…maybe, for now anyway, I could just go with it. It was just a dream, what would be the harm in hanging around until I woke up? I could do a little exploring like I wanted last time. It could be fun.

Tauriel glanced back, her eyes flicking over to him again, for just a moment, to find him still looking at her, before she quickly looked away again. _Aw_. Obviously, these two needed my help, if they were looking at each other like that and not together yet. I mean, it was pretty clear they weren't together, even though they want to be.

If I wasn't such a meddler, I would leave them to figure this out themselves. It wasn't any of my business. Actually…it _was_ my business. This was _my_ dream, ergo, my business.

So lucky for them, I _was_ a meddler. A hardcore, unstoppable force hell-bent on matchmaking. It was my gift in life, really. It was a fulltime job. I should get paid. But I had nothing better to do, anyway, and this was a _dream_. What else was there to do other than match-make, especially when it was _right in front of me_? I couldn't resist. My subconscious knew me too well.

Just call me Cupid.

**So, What did you think?**


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